Cosmopolitan (magazine)

Cosmopolitan (stylized in all caps) is an American quarterly women's fashion and entertainment magazine first published in New York City in March 1886 as a family magazine; it was later transformed into a literary magazine and, since 1965, has become a women's magazine. Cosmopolitan is one of the best-selling magazines.

Formerly titled The Cosmopolitan and often referred to as Cosmo, Cosmopolitan has adapted its style and content. Its current incarnation was originally marketed as a woman's fashion magazine with articles on home, family, and cooking. For some time it focused more on new fiction and written work, which included short stories, novels, and articles. Now it is more targeted towards women's fashion, sports, and modern interests. Eventually, editor-in-chief Helen Gurley Brown changed its attention to more of a women's empowerment magazine. Nowadays, its content includes articles discussing relationships, sex, health, careers, self-improvement, celebrities, fashion, horoscopes, and beauty.

Cosmopolitan is published by New York City–based Hearst Corporation. The magazine's office is in the Hearst Tower, 300 West 57th Street near Columbus Circle in Manhattan in New York City. Cosmopolitan has 21 international editions in Australia, Bulgaria, China, Czechia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Korea, Mexico, the Middle East, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Slovenia, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom.

International editions previously existed for Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Brazil, Central America, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mongolia, Norway, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sweden, South Africa, Thailand, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

Cosmopolitan originally began as a family and women's magazine, first published in New York City in March 1886 by Schlicht & Field of New York as The Cosmopolitan.

Paul Schlicht told his first-issue readers inside of the front cover that his publication was a "first-class family magazine". Adding on, "There will be a department devoted exclusively to the concerns of women, with articles on fashions, on household decoration, on cooking, and the care and management of children. There was also a department for the younger members of the family."

Cosmopolitan's circulation reached 25,000 that year, but by November 1888, Schlicht & Field were no longer in business. Ownership was acquired by John Brisben Walker in 1889. That same year, he dispatched Elizabeth Bisland on a race around the world against Nellie Bly to draw attention to the magazine.

Under John Brisben Walker's ownership, E. D. Walker, formerly with Harper's Monthly, took over as the new editor, introducing color illustrations, serials, and book reviews. It became a leading market for fiction, featuring such authors as Annie Besant, Ambrose Bierce, Willa Cather, Theodore Dreiser, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, Edith Wharton, and H. G. Wells. The magazine's press run climbed to 100,000 by 1892.